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Nida Allam elected as chair of Durham city council
The 30-year-old immigrant's daughter from India and Pakistan made history in 2020 when she was the state's first elected Muslim woman to public office
Nida Allam / Image - X/Nidaallam
Nida Allam officially became North Carolina's youngest chairperson after taking the oath of office as chair of the board of commissioners (BOCC) on Monday, December 4.
“Amid a rise in bigotry and hate, this Board looked at this Muslim woman who has grown up in a post 9/11 America being called a terrorist, told to go back to where I came from… and they chose to call me chair,” the 30-year-old daughter of Indian and Pakistani immigrants posted on social media platform X, formerly Twitter.
Today I had the honor of being elected Chair of the @DurhamCounty BOCC
— Nida Allam (@NidaAllam) December 5, 2023
Amid a rise in bigotry & hate this Board looked at this Muslim woman who has grown up in a post 9/11 America being called a terrorist, told to go back to where I came from… & they chose to call me Chair pic.twitter.com/wV5rozXnET
In 2020, Allam created history by being the first Muslim woman to be elected to a North Carolina public office. In the years since, “she has become a leading advocate for affordable housing, universal healthcare, a fair living wage, a Green New Deal, abortion rights, and labor rights across the state,” according to her website.
Allam ran for the 4th Congressional District of North Carolina last year and lost the most costly primary in state history by a mere nine points. She served as the political director for Senator Bernie Sanders's 2016 presidential campaign prior to her bid for local office.
Allam also became the first Muslim American to hold a position on the executive council of the Democratic Party of North Carolina when she was elected as third vice chair. In order to better the lives of women in Durham, she also held the position of chair of the Durham Mayor's Council for Women. This role involved acting as a liaison between women and representatives of the municipal administration.
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